A little o' this, a little o' that

Rainy days

It’s taken me a while to come to the realization that we are experiencing an extraordinarily wet spring here in the Pacific Northwest. I’m not really in denial so much as just ignoring it. Like, it rains a lot here, deal with it. Watching the local news weather reports, or listening to locals (many recent transplants) can be exasperating as they whine about the rain. After a week of sunshine they’re all crying for rain, the news anchors razzing the meteorologists like they created whatever weather pattern occuring, or co-workers complaining about the heat. It’s crazy making.

Well, after a solid month of rain, I’m joining the ranks of rain complainers. Early May started out promising, with a week of deliciously perfect spring weather. It was so nice I transferred the chicks outside, and mowed the pasture with a rented field mower. Then it turned. The rains began and have continued virtually nonstop for three weeks, with near biblical accumulations. The running joke is that I’ve paddled to my job/the grocery/etc. The weather reports are now remarking on how we are setting records. In a baseball stat-like blog post, one of the local stations noted that it has rained 25 out of the past 27 days, something that is nealy unheard of even in the rainy season (a.k.a. winter). The term “Junuary” is being tossed around – I haven’t heard that one in a few years, but it’s an apt description; not only has it been ark-worthy wet, but it’s often been unseasonably cold too. Cold and wet = miserable June.

All I know is the pasture is knee deep again, and walking through it requires Wellies if you want your feet and ankles to stay dry. On the few days the sun came out for part of the day, all it does is turbo charge the growth, so I’ve hired a guy to come mow the pasture again (next week). The ground is saturated, with water literally oozing out of the ground on the hill and the small streams have stayed healthy and robust. My little fire pit on the hill behind the house is filled to the brim, the grassy area around it is runny with water, and the back lawn area is squishy and sloppy with collected water. The lower right part of the property is rife with underground streams – you can hear the water running, and even see it in several places where there’s a hole (probably where I punched through while walking the property down there), and there’s a fair amount of water moving.

The evenings after work are spent mostly inside, as the weather isn’t conducive to doing anything outside unless you’re a duck. The bird dog is a little stir crazy, as am I, and we all could use some time to dry out. I need to build a run for the chickens and it’s been too miserable to dig the post holes or frame up. The chicks are surviving, growing slowly, and I keep promising them it will get nicer. It’s supposed to be sunny this weekend, and I’m looking forward to things drying out a little. I’m glad I didn’t plant a garden this year – it’s been so cool and soggy that the corn and beans would have rotted in the ground.

George Lakoff has retired as Distinguished Professor of Cognitive Science and Linguistics at the University of California at Berkeley. He is now Director of the Center for the Neural Mind & Society (cnms.berkeley.edu).